In this presentation, you will learn important information you need to know before you begin to train a gluten detection dog. There is much more to it than teaching a dog a target odor. The dog needs to be able to work in an odor-filled environment and pick up on trace levels of gluten while sorting through millions of other odors. Much like the intense training and proofing that goes into preparing a service dog to work in public, ensuring the dog is comfortable and safe around a myriad of people, sounds, and other animals, the gluten detection dog will require just as much training and proofing on checking products and prepared meals.
We will discuss issues involved in working with a odorant (gluten) that does not behave like other odors you may have worked with before. You will gain an understanding of what you are working with, what you are training for, and help you understand the needs of the the person using a gluten detection dog at home and in the public. How to train a gluten detection dog is not as simple as the dog indicating whether something is or is not safe to consume. Understanding not only how this training differs from other scent work, it is also important to understand how a person with Celiac or other conditions requiring a gluten-free lifestyle can use the gluten detection dog effectively.
Speaker: Dawn Scheu
Available as a recording.
****Due to the nature of these webinars being recorded live, at the speakers home or office, there will/may be some technical issues that can not be helped or edited without losing important portions of the lecture.
In this webinar we will talk about:
- Some diseases that require a gluten-free diet
- Federal rules for gluten-free labeling
- Gluten-free products and why reading labels isn’t reliable
- Proper scent handling and cross-contamination
- Gluten protein as an odorant and why it is different from other odors
- What is a controlled search
- Working with both a trained indication and “all clear” behaviors
Cost: $25.00 USD
CEU’s:
CCPDT – 2 (2 CPDT-KA; 1 CBCC-KA)
IAABC – 2
PPAB/PPG – 2 CEUs
NADOI – 2 CEUs
IACP – 2 CEUs
Dawn Scheu is a Professional Service Dog Trainer and owner of Willow Service Dogs L.L.C. Dawn began training dogs in 1998 when she joined a Search and Rescue team and began training her first working dogs in the areas of Urban, Wilderness and Tracking/Trailing. It was after Dawn was diagnosed with a normally fatal form of Celiac disease that she trained the first gluten detection dog in the United States to save her own life. Dawn was the first trainer to implement a controlled search to allergen detection training of any kind, utilizing both an indication and an all clear behavior with her personal service dog Willow. She wrote the original Gluten and Allergen Detection Standards that have been used by service dog trainers nationally. Dawn also has trained dogs for other allergen detection and medical alerts including: seizure, diabetes, POTS, and mast cell activation disorder. Dawn is a founding member and President of O.D.O.R. Service Dogs Inc., an educational nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring scent detection service dogs are trained to the highest standards and demonstrate reliability. She holds several professional memberships with her educational focus in animal behavior. She is also a APDT C.L.A.S.S. Evaluator/Instructor and an O.D.O.R Evaluator.